Zherebukh (Tx Tech) wearing glasses, and Kovalyov (UTB) playing on the next board facing two UTD players in hoodies, with Coach Rade (UTD) in the background.

Three of
the top-ranked college chess teams call Texas home. So in a state filled with vast
roadside cotton fields, the annual championship, which determines both team and
individual honors, is no easy pickin's. Among this
year's competitors in Houston were 10 GMs, four IMs (including two IMs
"elect"), two WGMs, and one WIM. UT-Dallas' program director James
Stallings has put together a systematic, comprehensive program of recruiting
and training-much like rivals Texas Tech and UT-Brownsville-but there's no
argument that his team is deepest in titled players drafted from all over the
world. Six of the 10 GMs competing this year were from UTD. But on any given
Sunday, the other two top schools, Texas Tech and UT-Brownsville, are capable
of reaching for the brass ring. The last round of State turned out to be that
"given Sunday." Texas Tech students scored 4-0 in
the last round-a feat with longer than 80-1 odds- to catch UTD and share the
co-championship. Each of the two teams garnered 13.5 points from their top four
scorers. UT-Dallas's Ioan Chirila and Texas Tech's Elshan Moradiabadi shared
the individual championship, each scoring four points.

Moradiabadi vs. Hernandez

"The tournament was very strong, and GM Chirila is a tough
chess fighter," UT-Dallas Chess Coach Rade Milovanovic said.

"Although we fielded only two
grandmasters, we played some of our new recruits, who performed spectacularly
under pressure," Texas Tech Coach Alex Onischuk, coach of the Texas Tech chess
team, said.

1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4The
most principled move. The advantage of this move is the reduction of White's
possibilities. (2...e6 leads to a quite passive position in the Catalan or
Queen's Gambit; 2...c6 permits White a wide choice of possible continuations:
3.d4 (3.b3; 3.e3!?; 3.g3!?).3.b4!

3.e3 Nc6 4.exd4 Nxd4 5.Nxd4 Qxd4 6.d3 c6 7.Nc3-this
line was popular some time ago, but Black found ... 7...Nh6!. This modern
approach refutes White's hopes for an advantage. 3...e6
When I played this move, I was thinking about an old
classic game between two uncompromising players, Paul Keres (White) and Mikhail
Botvinnik (Black), The Hague, 1948. It would be very useful to recall the
opening of this game: 1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 d4 4. b4 c5 5. b5? (a mistake;
White closes the b-file, rejecting the idea of pressure along this line) 5. ...
e5 6. d3 Bd6 7. e4? (now White closes the long diagonal for his bishop) 7. ...
Qc7 8. Ne2 h5! (a great move; Botvinnik causes White's h2-h4-after that, Black
will be the owner of g4-square, creating a permanent weakness in the White camp)
9. h4 Nh6,and later Black won.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 Bb7 6.Bd3
0-0 7.0-0 c5 8.Na4
White's move is a well-known and strong idea. White
is nearly forcing Black to exchange on d4; additionally, the knight will
support the c5-pawn in case of Black's d7-d5.8...cxd4 9.exd4 Re8If 9...Be7,
White would play 10.a3 and b4.10.a3 Bf8 11.Bg5 d6
After this move, Black's position is pretty solid but
passive. The natural ... d5 would be met by c5, with advantage to White.12.Nc3 Nbd713.Ne1!?
A grandmaster move. The knight goes to e3, where it
will have an excellent position and support the f2-f4-f5 maneuver. 13...a6?!
This seems a bit too slow to me. Black should have
tried to get off the hook with 13...Be7!, with the idea of playing... d5 -for
example, 14.b4 h6 15.Bh4 d5 16.c5 e5, with good counter-play. 14.Nc2 Qc7 15.Ne3 g6 16.d5
16.f4 also looks pretty strong.16...Bg7 17.dxe6 fxe6 18.Rc1 Nc5 19.b4 Nxd3
20.Qxd3
White is better now, but one should not underestimate
the black bishops.20...Rad8 21.Qd4?!
The idea to trade bishops is very natural, but
something simple like f3 was probably better: f3, Ne2, rfd1, Bg5-h4 looks like
a very good set up to me.21...Rf8 22.Qh4 Rde8 23.Bh6 Nh5 24.Bxg7 Qxg7
25.Rfd1 Rf4 26.Qh3?
26.Ng4 was White's only option. It is, however, hard
to play such a move.26...Qf6
Holden probably missed this move. Now White is in
trouble. 27.g3 The only move to stop Rh4. 27...Rxc4!
Elshan finds such moves in seconds. 28.Nxc4 Qf3 29.Nd5 Bxd5 30.Rxd5 30...Nf4!
Unfortunately for White, Black has this move. Now it
is all over. 31.Qf1 Ne2+ 32.Qxe2 Qxe2 33.Rd2 Qf3 34.Rcd1 d5
35.Rd3 Qe2 36.Nxb6 Rf8 37.R1d2 Qe1+ 38.Kg2 Qe4+ 39.Kg1 Rf3 40.Rd4 Qe1+ 41.Kg2
Rxa3 42.Nd7 Ra1 43.Kh3 Rc1 44.f4 Rc4 45.R4d3 Qf1+ 46.Kg4 Kg7 47.Ne5 Re4 48.Nf3
Kf6 49.Rd1 Qg2 50.Rg1 h5+ 51.Kh4 g5+

November 10, 2013, Round 4(Comments by GM Ioan Cristian)
In the penultimate round I got paired against one of
the top seeds of the tournament. I knew he was a very strong opponent, but my
recent results gave me enough confidence to go into the game with a positive
attitude. 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5
The Trompovsky! I have to admit that I never prepared
seriously against this opening. The night before the game I had a feeling that
he would try to surprise me, so I decided to prepare a bit against it. 2...d5 3.Nd2
3.Bxf6 is currently considered to be the main line:
3...gxf6 (3...exf6!?) 4.e3 c5 5.dxc5 e6 6.c4 (6.Nf3 Nd7 7.c4 dxc4 8.c6 Nb6 9.Nbd2 c3 10.bxc3 bxc6∞, Carlsen-Kramnik,
2013, 1-0. Black finally lost this game, but I don't think he should be worse
in this position. The bishop pair should compensate his worse structure. 3...Nbd7 4.Ngf3 c5 5.e3 e6 6.c3 Be7 7.Bd3 b6
7...0-0 8.0-0 b6 9.Ne5 Nxe5 10.dxe5 Nd7 11.Bxe7 Qxe7
12.f4 f6∞8.0-0 Bb7 9.Qb1!
9.dxc5 bxc5 10.Qc2 0-0 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.c4 h6= 9...h6 10.Bh4
10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.b4 Qc7 12.a4 0-0 13.a5 Rab8 (13...Rac8?! 14.axb6 axb6 15.bxc5 bxc5
16.Ra7 Rb8 17.Ba6+/=, when White retains some pressure) 14.h3 e5∞10...0-0 11.b4
Black's position looks quite solid, but this clever
pawn expansion is not easy to refute. And if Black doesn't do something about
it, his position could easily become very unpleasant. 11...cxb4
11...c4!? 12.Bc2 a5 13.a3 (13.bxa5?! Rxa5=?+)13...b5 14.Qb2 Qc7 15.Bg3 Bd6, and
Black has a pleasant position. He's solved all his opening problems. 12.cxb4 Ne4?
A big blunder. White could have seized the initiative
and obtained a big advantage with a fairly simple sequence of moves. I am sure
my opponent saw the refutation, but probably considered the game continuation
to be more effective.13.Bxe7?
Returning the favor, much better was 13.Nxe4 Bxh4 (13...dxe4 14.Bxe4 Bxe4 15.Qxe4 Bxh4 16.Nxh4
Nf6 17.Qb1 Nd5 18.Nf3±)14.Nd6 Rb8 15.Nxh4 Qxh4 16.Qc2 Qd8
17.Rfc1, and after Qc7, Black's position is close to lost.] 13...Qxe7 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Bxe4 Bxe4 16.Qxe4 Qxb4
17.Qb7 17...Qa4
17...Qd6?! 18.Rfc1 Rfb8 19.Qc7 Qd5 20.Rc6+/=, when
White keeps a very unpleasant pressure along the 7th rank and the c-file.18.Rfc1 Rab8
18...Rfd8! was a bit more precise. The point is that
if White plays 19.Qc7 (19.Rc6?? Nc5!
20.Qc7 Rd7-+)19...Qa6=, when I win an important tempo compared
to the game. 19.Qc7 Rfd8 20.Rc6 Qa6 21.Rac1 Qxa2 22.h3
22.Rd6!? Rdc8! (22...Qa6?
23.Rxd7 Rdc8 24.h3!, and here winning the queen is not enough-24...Rxc7 25.Rcxc7 Rf8 26.Ne5 Qa2 27.Rxa7
Qb2 28.Nxf7±)23.Qxc8+ Rxc8 24.Rxc8+ Kh7 25.h3 Nf6 26.Ne5 Ne4
27.Rdd8 Qxf2+ 28.Kh2 Qg3+ 29.Kh1 Qe1+=. 22...Qa6

23.d5!
My opponent demonstrates a great understanding of the
concept of initiative. He is sacrificing the second pawn in order to create a
powerful central square for his knight, as well as clearing the sixth rank for
his rook to join the attack against my king (23.Rd6 Qb7=/+).23...exd5
23...Qb7 24.dxe6 fxe6 25.Rd1 Qxc7 26.Rxc7 Nc5 27.Rxd8+
Rxd8 28.Rxa7=. I saw this line, but I already considered my position promising,
especially given the fact that I had a good amount of extra time on my clock;
therefore complications would be beneficial to me. 24.Nd4 Rbc8 25.Qxc8 Rxc8 26.Rxc8+ Kh7 27.R1c7 Ne5 28.Ra8?
28.Re8 Nc4 29.Kh2!. The only move that gives White
the advantage, in my opinion. This move is very hard to spot (29.Ree7 Nd2 30.Kh2 Nf1+ 31.Kg1 Qa1=)29...Nd2
30.h4!+-, and White's king escapes the perpetual. Now Black will have a hard
time dealing with the rook battery along the seventh rank. 28...Qa1+ 29.Kh2 Qf1 30.Rc2
My opponent had only a few seconds left on his clock
at this point. The position is very hard to defend even without being in time
trouble: 30.Re8 Nd3 31.Nf3 (31.Rxf7 Ne1-+)31...Nxf2 32.Kg3 Ne4+ 33.Kh2 Qf2-/+] 30...a5 31.Ra7 Nc4 32.Re2Kg6?!
32...b5 is much more precise: 33.Rxf7 a4 34.Rb7 a3
35.Rxb5 Qxe2 36.Nxe2 a2-+ 33.Rd7 a4 34.Rxd5 a3 35.Rb5?
35.Rc2! was the last chance to survive. Now the win
is not that close anymore: 35...Qd1 36.Rxc4 a2 37.Nf5! Qxd5 38.Ne7+ Kh7 39.Nxd5
a1Q 40.Rd4 (40.Nxb6!? Qe5+ 41.Kg1 Qb5
42.Rc7 Qxb6 43.Rxf7 Qb1+-/+)40...b5 41.Nb4. White can hope to
obtain a blockade, even though I would have played another hundred moves to try
and win! 35...Qxe2 36.Nxe2 a2 0-1
Not a perfect game at all, but a very complex battle.
In the end it was White who made the last mistake, which proved decisive.
Russell Harwood, program director of UT-Brownsville and USCF
College Chess Chairman, has also built one of the best teams in the nation.
This year he's acquired GM Coach GM Bartek
Macieja. "We were hoping for a higher finish," Harwood said, "but on
paper we were the third strongest team, so I guess we finished about as
expected. I think we are very fortunate to have such strong collegiate
chess programs in Texas!"

Texas Tech, thanks in part to funding from its Knight
Raiders' Chess Club was able to send 10 competitors, the most from any school.

The Texas Tech Chess Program and
the Texas Tech Knight Raiders Chess Team will host the Pan-American
Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship Dec. 27-30 at the Overton Hotel in
Lubbock, Texas. It will be the first time the "World Series of Chess" has been
held in Lubbock. Colleges from all over the hemisphere will compete for titles in
five divisions, as well as other titles, such as Best Small College (under
5,000), Best International Team, Best Women's Team, and biggest Team and
Individual Upset. All the top teams are expected to compete. More than 25 teams
have already signed up.

The Texas Tech University Chess
Program-part of the Division of Institutional Diversity, Equity & and
Community Engagement-offers outreach programs to more than a dozen area schools
and can provide teaching materials and other assistance on request.
For
information on the 2013 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, go
here. http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ttuchess/panam.phpOr
contact Al Lawrence at [email protected] or 806-742-7040.